Fences and Fence Posts: Every farm (or neighborhood) has them, right? Some will tell you it is to keep certain things in. Some will tell you it is to keep others out. Whatever reason you have for having fences, have you ever taken pictures of them?

Fences show up in my photos from time to time. Sometimes I am trying everything I can do to not have a fence in the background or not have a fence post coming out of the back of someones head I am trying to photograph. Other times I am hanging off of a fence to get the best angle and or vantage point for what I am wanting to capture. One beautiful morning last week, I grabbed my Canon Rebel T5i and headed out to “capture” fences and fence posts.

Now fences are pretty easy to take pictures of: Reason one) They don’t move, Reason two) They form a line for your eye to follow. This morning I was not in search of an awe-inspiring photo, but looking to perfect what I know I can tell my camera to do. I chose to leave the house with only my 50mm lens. I have had it for a while now, but have not really tried it out. Best. Decision. Ever!

One of the things that was heavily discussed at The Gathering Conference was Aperture. My 50mm lens has the highest Aperture of any of the lenses that I have. It has an f-stop of 1.8. Now, I am not going to try to explain this to you. What I am going to do is show how the Aperture can effect the look and feel of your photos.

Here is an example of two different Apertures. Both were taken with the same camera and lens using the manual mode on my camera. The only thing that changed was the camera setting for the Aperture and the ISO. (We will have to talk about ISO another day.)

A. f-stop 11.0, ISO 6400 B. f-stop 1.8, ISO 200

Can you see the difference?

What do you like about Photo A? What do you like about Photo B?

I prefer Photo B because it has a softer background and your eye is drawn just to the fence post. (Which by the way is made from a hedge tree and has been on this farm for probably more years than I have been alive. Well close any way.)

Photo A you see not only the fence but the trees in the distance and even the cows that you could not see in Photo B. (Yes, there are cows in Photo B. Trust me!)

Most of the time I like the look and feel of Photo B, but there are times that a lower amount of light needs to be let into the camera, thus the need for a lower Aperture like 11. Yes, this is why I did not want to try to explain this to you. Big number means little in the world of Aperture. When would you need a “lower” Aperture? When you want to have a sharp, clean image of everything you are photographing, just like in the next image.

f-stop: 22.0, ISO: 3200

Here are a few more examples of how I used Aperture to blur the background in my pictures. (The official term is bokeh, not blur. Just so you know!)

The theme Fences and Fence Posts was not one I came up with on my own. Myself and other attendees of The Gathering have decided to share pictures on our FaceBook Group centered around a theme. This little idea got me out taking pictures so that I could improve on something that I love doing and for that I am very thankful!

Blessings to you and all who have a fence or two,

Laurie – Country Link

*This is a very simple explanation to Aperture and how to get the desired affect you want for your images. My biggest suggestion is to read your camera’s manual, switch your camera mode to manual and just start playing with the different settings. Getting the image you want takes skill, yes, but it also takes the desire to know what it is you are telling your camera you want it to do.